The next season of American Horror Story just got some major star power. Oscar-nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe will be joining the cast of the upcoming season, titled Coven.
So far, we don't know much about the character Sidibe will be portraying. That's fitting though, as we also haven't gotten a lot of information on the season in general.
American Horror Story is a fairly unique TV series in that each season is its own self contained story. The first season, Murder House, dealt with a haunted home. The second, Asylum, took place in a mental institution. The third season is titled Coven, which seems to indicate it will have something to do with witches. It was previously hinted that a clue about the next season would be hidden in the tenth episode of Asylum, titled The Name Game.
Gabourey Sidibe got her big break as the star of Precious, a role that brought her a nomination for Best Actress. Since then, she's appeared in Tower Heist, Seven Psycopaths, and has a regular role on The Big C.
The news was announced by series co-creator Ryan Murphy on Twitter earlier this morning. She'll be joining returning cast members Lily Rabe, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Frances Conroy and Taissa Farmiga, as well as series newcomer Kathy Bates. Bates is best known for her terrifying turn as Annie Wilkes in Misery, for which she won an Oscar. Her character has been described by Murphy as "five times worse than [her] Misery character."
Due to the way the American Horror Story series is structured, all of the season one and two returning cast members will be portraying entirely new characters. The upcoming third season will also be the first to shoot on location, although it has not been revealed yet where exactly the production will be heading.